Judith Hamann — Aunes
[Shelter Press — 2025]★★★★★
Reviewed 19 March 2025by Paul Casey
Australian cellist Judith Hamann brings exquisite collage techniques to Shelter Press for their latest solo album, Aunes. With the addition of synthesizers, organ, field recordings, and voice (notably for the first time in their compositions), the six pieces on the album tie together locations to audible sensations, like the aune tied to the measured material. And, like many materials, Aunes is varied in appearance, often delicate, sometimes shimmering, but always textural. Beautiful and at times haunting, these compositions are a wonderful expression, and shows that Hamann's cello skills are only the tip of the iceberg.
As stated above, this is the first time that Hamann has used their voice in their compositions. Knowing this gives the listener a bit more insight into the material at hand which helps to unpack the pieces pouring forth from the speakers. The layers here are all put together pretty minimally, giving each statement its own voice but still highlighting it as part of not only each piece but the album as a whole. Using the motif of location, Hamann is able to convey their feelings of a particular space and time via the music, their observations indelibly inked into the compositions presented. And with the low sung, almost hummed vocals, one can feel what must have been Hamann's internal monologue while being in these spaces. Their cello and the sparseness of sound give an ethereal, dreamlike quality, allowing the album to seep into the recesses of one's mind and anchor onto their own personal memories of time and place. Like the aunes that cannot be removed from the fabric they describe, our senses run together to create vivid memories, bits of electricity that can convey all the sensory information taken in at that time - sounds cannot be separated from those visions.
Aunes is a slow burn of an album, just being itself and really taking hold after it has been played a few times. While not chock full of sounds, it makes its space very well known and utilizes each moment to express itself. Hamann's cello is the star here (naturally), but their voice lifts these pieces into fascinating spaces, like a narrator giving us hidden details that our ears alone could not perceive. The elements here make a much more powerful whole than their appearance would let on and the sparseness only bolsters this. Hamann's latest solo effort is well formed and well-performed and is an excellent album for spinning at any time of day. For more